Leaf

I can’t believe anyone would name a plant Bastard Toadflax. That funny sounding name deserves some explanation, don’t you think?

The Audubon North American Field Guide to Wildflowers tells us that Bastard Toadflax, Comandra umbellata, is a parasitic plant associated with trees and shrubs. Because the little plant is green, which means it contains chlorophyll and can do photosynthesis, we know that it’s not totally dependent on woody plants for its nutrition. I wonder if the bastard part of the name has to do with its being parasitic?

Also known as Star Toadflax because of the star-like appearance of the flowers, this small perennial herb grows in open woodlands and fields to a height of about 8 – 10 inches. Note the old oak leaves in the background of the image below.

Bastard toadflax, the woodland plant with a funny name.

Alternate leaves are small ovals with rounded tips and practically no stem. The leaf edges are entire, or untoothed. Leaves and flowers share the same stem with the flowers arranged in a loose cluster at the stem tip.

White cup-like flowers, less than a quarter of an inch across, have five rounded ‘petals’, which are actually sepals, that yield a star-like appearance.

Flowering Star Toadflax.

Fertilized flowers will develop into small edible nuts. These nutlets could be eaten by mice, chipmunks, squirrels, groundhogs, birds, deer, bear – all of which we’ve seen in the immediate vicinity. I tasted the little nuts one time. They were a little walnutty tasting as I remember.

You could see the fruitless stems where other nutlets had once grown. Did another animal nibble from this same plant? Or had the fruit not developed properly and drop off long ago?

I guess one would could film a plant 24/7 to answer those questions. Hmm, sounds like a fun project!

find flowering plant

set up video cam 24/7

watch fruit develop

see what happens to the fruit!

Since we don’t have that much time we’d have to read a little more to find out who consumes the bastard toadflax nutlets.

The Animal Kingdom might not be the first place you’d look for information on plants like the bastard toadflax, but try to remember that we’re all interconnected to the habitats we share. Reports of animal studies and observation records have helped to form our knowledge on how plants are used by animals.

For example, zoologists will perform necropsies on dead animals. An important part of those animal autopsies is to open up the gastrointestinal tract to see what the animal recently ate. Gathering this type of data helps us to understand animal-plant interactions.

I don’t know of any source where you can go to look up what plants are eaten by whom, but the knowledge gained and shared by a number of biologists over the years has shaped our collective knowledge of these things.

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service shares Plant Profiles that may indicate whether a plant is used by wildlife for food or cover. An example is New Jersey Tea, Ceanothus americanus. Scroll down to Wildlife Habitat Values under Classification and you’ll see that large mammals and terrestrial birds make some use of the NJ Tea plant.

Wild geranium is one of the first wild flowers that I learned once we moved to our place on the “mountain top”, which is a ridge top in the Ridge and Valley Province of the Appalachians in Pennsylvania. The large pastel-colored blossoms are a pleasant addition to the woodlands that are now green everywhere.

Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum, also called Spotted Geranium, is a perennial that grows in open woods where sunlight reaches the forest floor. We find it along the lane, next to the farmer’s road, and at the edge of the field where the field meets the trees.

Large enough not to be missed by the casual woods walker, wild geranium flowers and leaves are prominent. The foliage is easy to spot so you can find it even when the flowers aren’t in bloom. The palmate leaves of wild geranium are deeply cut and have rounded teeth or lobes.

A nice specimen of wild geranium along the lane.Flowering wild geranium along a country road. Photo taken 17 May 2010.

In the image above note the rounded petals of the lilac-colored flowers. Five-petal flowers of lilac, pink or light purple occur in clusters at the stem tips.

Close up image of wild geranium blooms.Blooming wild geranium on 2 May 2010.

Note that the drooping flower buds have not yet opened. When the wild geranium flowers are spent, the petals dry up, turn a deeper blue color and fall away.

Pink to faded blue flowers of wild geranium.

New lilac and old blue flowers of wild geranium. Photo above taken 17 May 2010. From these observations it appears that Geranium maculatum has at least a two-week blooming period.

A couple of years ago I found a cluster of yarrow growing in the backyard. I noticed the foliage when the plants were small, maybe half a foot tall. Rubbing a leaf released the “flower arrangement” scent that confirmed I was looking at Yarrow, Achillea millefolium.

Learning the scents that plants make is only secondary to learning their physical characteristics to identify them. Sometimes you can cut to the chase by smelling the flowers or leaves, but if you can recognize a plant’s scent then you’re probably already familiar with it in other ways.

The yarrow plant has very highly divided leaves. The leaves are soft to the touch and arch over instead of being erect. The fern-like leaves are probably how most people would identify yarrow, instead of using its smell.

Foliage and flower buds of native yarrow.

Yarrow that was transplanted into a flower bed has flourished into many plants from the original few. Note the foliage in the image above, taken 2 May 2010.

Flowers and leaves share the same stem. Yarrow flowers seem to be formed early and rise up higher as more leaves continue to develop. When the plant gets 1 – 3 feet tall the blossoms will be fully formed into a slightly rounded cluster of what appears to white, five petal flowers. The flowers are actually composite flowers with only a few broad ray flowers, most often five of them.

A cluster of yarrow flowers.A side view of a patch of yarrow flowers.

Two photos of yarrow flowers taken 31 May 2010.

Yarrow is a plant that is used widely in flower gardens and in fresh-cut and dried flower arrangements. White is the original, native flower color, but other colors have been propagated.

Peterson’s Edible Plant Guide indicates that yarrow leaves are often used to make tea. The pleasant flower arrangement scent is a nice addition to other herbs or used alone. Check out yarrow herbal remedies to learn more about how others use yarrow in herbal remedies.

Probably the first thing noticeable about yellow stemmed violets would be their heart-shaped leaves. The leaves branch off each other which gives a nice effect of producing a clump of heart-like leaves. Each leaf stands apart from the other as to make the heart-shaped outlines very obvious.

Heart-shaped leaves of Downy Yellow Violet.

Stemmed violets have both flowers and leaves produced on the same stem. The differences between several yellow-stemmed violets come down to leaf shape.

The yellow stemmed violet that we have here is called the Downy Yellow Violet, Viola pubescens. Two identifying characteristics are first, the downy or softly hairy surface of the stems and leaves, and second, the toothed stipule, which is like a tiny leaf at the base of the heart-shaped leaves.

Toothed stipules of downy yellow violet.

Note the yellow circle around the toothed stipule (hard to see the teeth in this image) and the downy hair on the leaves and stems.

The flowers appear differently depending on the angle that you view them at. Looking down on the violet you’ll see four petals, sideways you can see the spur and straight on gives you a look at the lined lower petal.

Looking down on the yellow stemmed violets.Top-side view of the Downy Yellow Violet.

Yellow violets seem common in low-lying areas near creeks or wetlands. Blooming cohorts included white violets, the common blue violet, miterwort, wild ginger and wild stonecrop. Bloodroot and trout lily had already bloomed in this area. Photos were taken 30 April 2010 near the Day Use Area of Little Buffalo State Park in Newport, PA.

These pretty violets – and all members of Viola – are edible, but the Peterson Edible Plants Guide tells us that the yellow species may be mildly cathartic, which means that they may act as a laxative. The young leaves and flowers can be added to salads. The leaves can be used to thicken soups, boiled as a cooked green, or dried to make tea.

Greater Celandine has appeared to me before singly. Only one plant at a time did I ever see until I went to Little Buffalo State Park on 30 April 2010.

Greater Celandine, Chelidonium majus, grows to 1-2 feet tall with their yellow flowers at the highest points on flower stems that project from leaf axils. It is an alien plant in the U.S. and native to Europe.

Yellow flowers top the Celandine plants at the edge of the woods.

The leaves of greater celandine are unique. Perhaps that is why the plant is in its own genus – ther are no other members of Chelidonium. The compound leaves have typically five leaflets in a pattern with rounded teeth that may be so big that the leaflets have lobes.

Shadows aside, it looks like a kid could have dreamed up this leaf!

Isn’t that the craziest leaf you’ve ever seen? There’s not another one like it. For sure you’ll be able to identify greater celandine, even if it’s not flowering, just by looking at the leaves.

Loose clusters of 3/4-inch wide flowers with one to a few blossoms flowering at one time top the celandine plant. Note the bright yellow flowers with bushy stamens and four petals held out flat.

Yellow flowers and erect seed pods of celandine.

In the image above note the long hairs on the flowers pods and flower stems.

Seedpods forming on celandine

In the image above you can see the green part of the flower that will lengthen into the seed pod. Note that there are long and smooth, slender seed pods present from previously fertilized flowers, and also flower buds that have yet to open on the taller stem.

Greater celandine is found in wooded areas, especially near the edge of paths or roads or other open areas.

Several celandine plants at the edge of the woods.

In the image above there are about ten greater celandine plants as noted by their clusters of bright yellow flowers. These celandine were at the edge of the woods as an open field was behind the photographer.

The Peterson Medicinal Plants Guide warns us that the yellow juice obtained by breaking a stem is highly irritating, allergenic and most likely poisonous. At one time the yellow juice was used as a folk remedy for skin problems like warts, eczema and ringworm, but due to its toxicity we can’t recommend using celandine for any remedy. However, modern herbalists might disagree and use greater celandine for a number of ailments.

Learning family characteristics will speed you on your way to learning about new plants. If you can recognize family characteristics, you can more easily come to a decision about the identity of a wild plant, herb or flower.

When you come upon a wild herb or wildflower that you don’t know, look for characteristics that will help you identify it. If you know some family characteristics, you may more easily identify the new herb.

Ask yourself,

What other plant does this new one look like or remind you of?

What features of the flower are outstanding?

What is the leaf arrangement and type?

Where is the plant growing? What is its habitat?

The more plants that you are familiar with, the easier it is to identify new ones.

Recently, I came across a plant unfamiliar to me. From afar anyone would have thought it was a mustard plant as they are flowering profusely in fields everywhere. This plant had yellow flowers at the top of plant, similar to the mustards.

On closer inspection I saw the bright yellow flowers were very tiny and held in umbels, unlike the four-petalled mustard flowers that are not in umbels. I felt the foliage and immediately thought “Parsley! This must be some kind of wild parsley.” Upon looking it up when I got home I found out that I was right, Golden Alexanders is a member of the Umbelliferae, the Parsley Family. Kind of like a picture is worth a thousand words.

Now, I’m not saying that I went through the ‘Parsley Family Character List’ in my head and decided that this new plant fit the Parsley Family. It was more like the general look and feel of the plant simply reminded me of parsley that we’d grown in the vegetable garden.

You don’t have to memorize all the characteristics of a family to recognize the similarity between family members. However, the more famliar you are with the common families in your area, the easier it will be to identify the wild herbs that you find.

Depending on the reference we have from 88 to 99 different members of the Parsley Family in our area. Flower color doesn’t help to distinguish plants as members of this family as they may have white, yellow, pink to red, or blue to purple flowers.

Compound umbels of golden yellow flowers are identifying characteristics of Golden Alexanders. The small golden clusters of flowers are held in umbels and these also are umbels themselves. Umbels are clusters of flowers where the flower stems all originate from the same point as if forming the spokes of an umbrella.

Golden yellow flowers of Golden Alexanders.

Golden alexanders reaches 1-2 feet tall with its jagged leaves cut into threes – twice. The leaves are doubly compound, where each leaf is divided into three parts and each part is further divided into 3 or more narrow toothed leaflets.

The triplicate leaflets of the compound leaf of Golden Alexanders.

The left flower stalk in the image above illustrates one compound leaf of golden alexanders. Each of three leaflets has three leaflets.

Tiny yellow flowers held in umbels of umbels.

Golden alexanders presented here was found adjacent to a picnic area in the Day Use Area of Little Buffalo State Park in Newport, PA on 30 April 2010. This is the same area where we saw the tremendous display of Spring Ephemeral flowers.

Found a new geranium in upstate New York. New to me that is. Saw it last autumn while walking on a drive next to the Pine Bush in Albany County. It was a low-growing roadside weed with a pretty pink flower. I remember it appeared to be a geranium, similar to wild geranium but much smaller. It was growing at the edge of the Pine Bush Preserve, along a two-lane road, between the trees and the road.

Dug up a couple sections of root and carried them in plastic grocery bags. The greenery was still lifelike in October. Transplanted them back here on the mountain top, as we like to call our place in the woods on the mountain ridge, on the east side of the house in worked up soil with oak leaf mulch.

This spring I see the little geranium is coming back to life. The transplant was a success! Now, I’ll have to watch and wait for the flowers. I thought it might make a nice ornamental cover grass for areas under trees or among azaleas along the house, which is where the bit was transplanted to. Photos taken 24Mar2010.

Here’s a spring blooming plant that you won’t see unless you go into the woods during early Spring, called hepatica. Hepatica americana can be found among the leaf litter beneath the trees of oak-hickory-maple forests.

We see the flowers here in Pennsylvania during the last part of March through the first half of April. Hepatica is one of the Spring Ephemeral flowers, only blooming for a short time in early spring before the trees leaf out.

Native to forests of Eastern North America, hepatica is a perennial with some medicinal properties. The Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants indicates that hepatica was highly sought after in the late 1800s for its revered ability to soothe the liver. A liver tonic craze saw tons of hepatica harvested here and abroad. A common nickname for hepatica is liverleaf.

Native Americans made a leaf tea for liver and digestive ailments. Folk tradition used hepatica tea for coughs and fevers, also. We don’t harvest it for anything, we just appreciate it being there!

Taking a walk in the woods, you’ll first be able to spot the dark green, shiny leaves, or the rounded edge of a leaf. Moving a few leaves aside will uncover the thick, waxy clover-shaped leaves.

Round-lobed hepatica getting ready to bloom.

When the leaves are new they arise in an erect posture. Once the leaves grow to full size – a couple inches or more across, the flower stem relaxes so that the large rounded leaves lie prostrate to the ground. Most often you’ll see the larger, older leaves that overwinter still hiding among the leaf litter when the flowers are present.

Small angular-shaped leaves of hepatica.

The young leaves also have a more angular shape than the mickey mouse ears of the older leaves. Leaves and stems are fuzzy with hairs when young and lose the hairs at some point.

Fuzzy, hairy stalks of young leaves and flowers of hepatica.

The pastel flowers sort of jump out at you when you finally see one. The purple, blue, pink or white petals are so perfect, in symmetry with the white stamens. The colorful petals are actually sepals. Green bracts underneath the flower head are rounded or pointed, depending on the kind of hepatica.

Sharp-lobed hepatica, H. acutiloba, has pointed, tri-lobed leaves and bracts. Round-lobed hepatica, H. americana, has rounded lobes on its leaves and bracts. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service classifies these two hepaticas as varieties of one species, Hepatica nobilus, with the sharp-lobed variety as H. nobilus var. acuta, and the round-lobed variety as H. nobilus var obtusa.

In the vicinity or same microhabitat of the hepatica plants pictured here, we find downy rattlesnake plantain, a member of the Orchid family. Its perennial, cross-veined leaves are hiding among the leaf litter, but they can be found all over the north- and west-facing hillsides. At this time of the year you have to know where look for it and move leaves aside to see it. Rattlesnake plantain is easier to spot in the summertime when there is less leaf litter.